Microfabricated ultrasonic transducer having individual cells with electrically isolated electrode sections

ABSTRACT

An ultrasonic transducer includes a membrane, a bottom electrode, and a plurality of cavities disposed between the membrane and the bottom electrode, each of the plurality of cavities corresponding to an individual transducer cell. Portions of the bottom electrode corresponding to each individual transducer cell are electrically isolated from one another. Each portion of the bottom electrode corresponds to each individual transducer that cell further includes a first bottom electrode portion and a second bottom electrode portion, the first and second bottom electrode portions electrically isolated from one another.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation claiming the benefit of U.S.application Ser. No. 16/679,500, filed Nov. 11, 2019 under AttorneyDocket No. B1348.70051US03, and entitled “MICROFABRICATED ULTRASONICTRANSDUCER HAVING INDIVIDUAL CELLS WITH ELECTRICALLY ISOLATED ELECTRODESECTIONS”, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

U.S. application Ser. No. 16/679,500, is a Divisional claiming thebenefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/245,214, filed Jan. 10, 2019under Attorney Docket No. B1348.70051US02, and entitled “MICROFABRICATEDULTRASONIC TRANSDUCER HAVING INDIVIDUAL CELLS WITH ELECTRICALLY ISOLATEDELECTRODE SECTIONS”, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference inits entirety.

U.S. application Ser. No. 16/245,214, is a Continuation claiming thebenefit under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/012,999,filed Jun. 20, 2018 under Attorney Docket No. B1348.70051US01, andentitled “MICROFABRICATED ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCER HAVING INDIVIDUAL CELLSWITH ELECTRICALLY ISOLATED ELECTRODE SECTIONS,” which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

U.S. application Ser. No. 16/012,999 claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C.§ 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/522,875, filed onJun. 21, 2017 under Attorney Docket No. B1348.70051US00, and entitled“MICROFABRICATED ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCER HAVING INDIVIDUAL CELLS WITHELECTRICALLY ISOLATED ELECTRODE SECTIONS,” which is hereby incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to ultrasound imaging. Inparticular, the present disclosure relates to Capacitive MicromachinedUltrasonic Transducers (CMUTs) and CMUT transducers having individualcells with electrically isolated electrode sections, and methods forforming the same.

Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUTs) are knowndevices that include a membrane above a micromachined cavity. Themembrane may be used to transduce an acoustic signal into an electricsignal, or vice versa. Thus, CMUTs can operate as ultrasonictransducers.

Two types of processes can be used to fabricate CMUTs. Sacrificial layerprocesses form the membrane of the CMUT on a first substrate above asacrificial layer. Removal of the sacrificial layer results in themembrane being suspended above a cavity. Wafer bonding processes bondtwo wafers together to form a cavity with a membrane.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, an apparatus is provided, comprising: an ultrasonictransducer substrate having a membrane, a bottom electrode, and aplurality of cavities disposed between the membrane and the bottomelectrode, each of the plurality of cavities corresponding to anindividual transducer cell; wherein portions of the bottom electrodecorresponding to each individual transducer cell are electricallyisolated from one another; and each portion of the bottom electrodecorresponding to each individual transducer cell further comprising afirst bottom electrode portion and a second bottom electrode portion,the first and second bottom electrode portions electrically isolatedfrom one another.

In another aspect, an ultrasound device is provided, comprising anengineered substrate comprising first and second substrates bondedtogether to define a plurality of cavities, each cavity corresponding toan individual ultrasound transducer cell; and an electrical substratebonded to the engineered substrate; wherein the first substratecomprises a bottom electrode for each individual transducer cell, withportions of the bottom electrode corresponding to each individualtransducer cell being electrically isolated from one another; and eachportion of the bottom electrode corresponding to each individualtransducer cell further comprising a first bottom electrode portion anda second bottom electrode portion, the first and second bottom electrodeportions electrically isolated from one another.

In another aspect, a method, comprising: forming a plurality of cavitiesin a first side of a first substrate; for one or more of the pluralityof cavities, forming first isolation trenches in the first side of thefirst substrate; bonding a second substrate to the first substrate toseal the cavities; and forming second isolation trenches in a secondside of the first substrate; the bonded first and second substratesdefining an ultrasonic transducer substrate having a membrane, a bottomelectrode, and the plurality of cavities disposed between the membraneand the bottom electrode, each of the plurality of cavitiescorresponding to an individual transducer cell; wherein portions of thebottom electrode corresponding to each individual transducer cell areelectrically isolated from one another by the second isolation trenches;and each portion of the bottom electrode corresponding to eachindividual transducer cell further comprising a first bottom electrodeportion and a second bottom electrode portion, the first and secondbottom electrode portions electrically isolated from one another by thefirst isolation trenches.

In another aspect, a method of forming an ultrasound device, the methodcomprising: forming a plurality of cavities in a first side of a firstsubstrate; for one or more of the plurality of cavities, forming firstisolation trenches in the first side of the first substrate; bonding asecond substrate to the first substrate to seal the cavities; formingsecond isolation trenches in a second side of the first substrate; thebonded first and second substrates defining an engineered substratehaving a membrane, a bottom electrode, and the plurality of cavitiesdisposed between the membrane and the bottom electrode, each of theplurality of cavities corresponding to an individual ultrasoundtransducer cell; wherein portions of the bottom electrode correspondingto each individual transducer cell are electrically isolated from oneanother by the second isolation trenches, and wherein each portion ofthe bottom electrode corresponds to each individual transducer cell thatfurther comprises a first bottom electrode portion and a second bottomelectrode portion, the first and second bottom electrode portionselectrically isolated from one another by the first isolation trenches;and bonding the engineered substrate to an electrical substrate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various aspects and embodiments of the application will be describedwith reference to the following figures. It should be appreciated thatthe figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. Items appearing inmultiple figures are indicated by the same reference number in all thefigures in which they appear.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a fabrication sequence for fabricating anengineered transducer substrate integrated with an electrical substratesuch as CMOS wafer, according to a non-limiting embodiment of thepresent application.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a detailed example of a stage of theprocess of FIG. 1, for fabricating an engineered substrate having trenchisolation inside an individual cell cavity, according to a non-limitingembodiment of the present application.

FIGS. 3A-3S illustrate a fabrication sequence for forming the engineeredsubstrate of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, according to a non-limiting embodimentof the present application.

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate a fabrication sequence for preparing anelectrical substrate such as CMOS wafer for bonding with the engineeringsubstrate, according to a non-limiting embodiment of the presentapplication.

FIGS. 5A-5D illustrate a fabrication sequence for integrating theengineered substrate with the electrical substrate, and encompasses themethod of FIG. 1, according to a non-limiting embodiment of the presentapplication.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present application relate to fabrication and integrationof CMUT substrates with electrical substrates such as CMOS wafers,thereby forming CMOS ultrasonic transducers (CUTs). The methodsdescribed provide scalable, low cost, high yield solutions to thechallenge of integrating CMUTs with CMOS wafers using techniquesavailable in commercial semiconductor foundries, thus utilizing areadily available supply chain.

According to an aspect of the present application, a MEMS design andprocess provides trench isolation surrounding each individual transducercell, creating an electrically isolated bottom electrode for eachtransducer cell. At least some advantages of adding trench isolationinside a cell cavity include the reduction of parasitic capacitance byisolating the pinned, nonactive regions around the cell's outerdiameter. In addition, a dual electrode CUT cell may be implemented suchthat an intracavity trench structure may segment each cell's bottomelectrode into dual electrodes, which can then be electrically addressedindividually. In turn, one exemplary application for such a dualelectrode structure is to have separate transmit and receive regionswithin a single cell, choosing the optimal regions for each function.Moreover, separate transmit and receive electrodes may enablesimultaneous operation, and eliminating the need for a transmit/receive(T/R) switch which may be a contributor to system noise.

According to an aspect of the present application, a wafer-level processis presented involving two wafer bonding steps, at least one of whichmay take advantage of wafer level packaging techniques. A first waferbonding step may form sealed cavities by bonding together asilicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer and a bulk silicon wafer, the resultingbonded structure being considered an engineered substrate. Relativelyhigh temperatures may be used, for example during an anneal, tofacilitate achieving a strong bond. The bulk silicon wafer of theengineered substrate may then be thinned, after which a second waferbonding step may be performed to bond the engineered substrate with anelectrical substrate such as, for example, a CMOS wafer havingintegrated circuits (ICs) formed thereon. The second wafer bonding stepmay use a relatively low temperature to avoid damage to the ICs on theCMOS wafer. The handle layer of the SOI wafer of the engineeredsubstrate may then be removed. In addition to CMOS wafers or substrates,the term “electrical substrate” may also include, but is not necessarilylimited to, substrates such as analog circuit substrates, applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC) substrates, interposer substrates,printed circuit board (PCB) substrates, flexible substrates, and thelike.

In some embodiments, the bonding used to form the engineered substratewith sealed cavities may include fusion bonding. In some suchembodiments, the bonding may be performed at a low temperature. However,a relatively high temperature anneal may be performed to ensure a strongbond. The fabrication of sealed cavities is decoupled from the thermalbudget of CMOS IC fabrication since the engineered substrate isfabricated prior to integrating such structures with a CMOS wafer, thusallowing for use of a relatively high temperature anneal for high bondstrength without damaging ICs in the final device. As described infurther detail below, in some embodiments, oxide quality of layers usedin the fusion bonding are optimize for improved device performance.

In some embodiments, the bonding performed to integrate the engineeredsubstrate having sealed cavities with the CMOS wafer may include thermalcompression (also referred to herein as “thermocompression”), eutecticbonding, or silicide bonding (which is a bond formed by bringing siliconof one substrate into contact with metal on a second substrate undersufficient pressure and temperature to form a metal silicide, creating amechanical and electrical bond), as non-limiting examples. Such bondingmay be performed at temperatures sufficiently low to avoid damage to theICs on the CMOS wafer, while still providing for a strong bond and alsofacilitating electrical interconnection of the ICs on the CMOS waferwith the sealed cavities of the engineered substrate. Accordingly,aspects of the present application implement low temperature (e.g.,below 450° C.) wafer bonding to form ultrasonic transducer membranes onCMOS wafers. Low temperature in this context may, in some embodiments,be below 450° C., below 400° C., below 350° C., between 200° C. and 450°C., any temperature within that range, or any suitable temperature forpreserving structures on a CMOS wafer. Thus, the bonding processes aswell as other fabrication steps for integrating the sealed cavities withCMOS ICs to form CUTs may avoid any anneals above 450° C.

According to an aspect of the present application, an apparatusincluding an engineered substrate is bonded with an electrical substratesuch as a CMOS wafer having a CMOS IC formed thereon. The engineeredsubstrate may include multiple wafers bonded together to form sealedcavities. The engineered substrate may then be bonded with the CMOSwafer. The engineered substrate may include one substrate configured toserve as a membrane which vibrates and another substrate serving as asupport, and which is not meant to vibrate within an operating frequencyrange of the device. This latter substrate may be sufficiently thick(e.g., greater than approximately 5 microns) to prevent unwantedvibration, but also sufficiently thin (e.g., less than approximately30-50 microns) to contribute to small device dimensions. The engineeredsubstrate may also use highly doped silicon to serves as conductive CUTelectrodes.

According to an aspect of the present application, an apparatusincluding an engineered substrate is bonded with an electrical substratesuch as a CMOS wafer having a CMOS IC formed thereon and the engineeredsubstrate includes multiple wafers bonded together to form sealedcavities and configured to vibrate. One wafer of the engineeredsubstrate may be configured to resonate at a first frequency and asecond wafer of the engineered substrate may be configured to resonateat a different frequency. Thus, a multi-frequency ultrasound transducermay be created. One frequency may be used for transmit operations andthe other for receive operations, as a non-limiting example. Forexample, a first, lower frequency may be used for transmit operationsand a second, higher frequency (e.g., twice the frequency of the lowerfrequency) may be used for receive operations, as a non-limitingexample.

The aspects and embodiments described above, as well as additionalaspects and embodiments, are described further below. These aspectsand/or embodiments may be used individually, all together, or in anycombination of two or more, as the application is not limited in thisrespect.

The term “SOT wafer” as used herein has its conventional meaning,including a handle layer, a buried oxide (BOX) layer, and a silicondevice layer separated from the handle layer by the BOX layer.

The term “engineered substrate” as used herein refers to a substrateengineered to differ from a basic silicon wafer or standard SOT wafer.An engineered substrate may also be a “composite substrate” formed bycombining multiple distinct elements (e.g., multiple distinct wafers).Examples of engineered substrates may include, but are not limited to,CMUT substrates and PMUT (piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonictransducer) substrates. Integrated approaches described herein allow forsuch various types of engineered substrates, as thermal budgets forforming the same are decoupled from an integrated circuit (e.g., CMOS)thermal budgets.

Throughout this disclosure, the use of the term “approximately” includes“exactly” unless context dictates otherwise. For example, describing adistance as being less than approximately 10 microns (μm) is to beunderstood to include the scenario in which the distance is less than orequal to 10 μm.

As described, aspects of the present application provide a process forfabricating CUTs having integrated CMUTs and CMOS ICs and utilizing twoseparate bonding steps. The process may allow for a resulting structureto include a relatively thin engineered substrate having cavities formedbetween two silicon layers monolithically integrated with a CMOS waferhaving CMOS ICs thereon. FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the process.

As shown, the method 100 may begin at operation 102 with the formationof an engineered substrate having sealed cavities. Two substrates orwafers (e.g., a first substrate comprising a bulk silicon wafer and asecond substrate comprising an SOI wafer) may be bonded together, forexample with high quality oxide layers of the two wafers facing eachother. One (or both) of the two wafers may have a plurality of cavitiesformed therein, such that bonding the two wafers together may result insealed cavities suitable for use as the cavities of CMUTs (or as statedpreviously, PMUTs, for example). To ensure a strong bond between the twowafers, high temperature processing may be used. For example, a hightemperature anneal may be used subsequent to a low temperature waferbond, such as a low temperature fusion bond. Thus, a combination of highand low temperatures may be used in forming the engineered substrate insome embodiments. High temperature in this context may, in someembodiments, be above 450° C., a temperature threshold above which CMOSICs would typically be damaged.

The bonding of the two wafers may be performed in vacuum so that theresulting sealed cavities have a low pressure (e.g., a pressure betweenapproximately 1×10⁻³ Torr and approximately 1×10⁻⁵ Torr, a pressure lessthan approximately 1 atmosphere, or any other suitable pressure). Insome embodiments, the bond is performed in an inert ambient, for exampleusing N₂. At operation 104, a handle layer of a first wafer (if thefirst wafer is an SOI wafer) of the two wafers may be removed, in anysuitable manner, such as by a combination of grinding followed byetching, or the first layer may be thinned (if the first wafer is a bulksilicon layer).

At operation 104, the engineered substrate may be bonded with anelectrical substrate (e.g., a CMOS wafer having integrated circuitry) toform an integrated device. The bonding may be performed at temperaturesbelow 450° C. to prevent damage to the electrical substrate (e.g., thecircuitry of the CMOS wafer). In some embodiments, thermocompressionbonding is used, although alternatives including eutectic bonding andsilicide bonding are also possible, among others.

At operation 106, a portion of the second substrate of the engineeredsubstrate may be thinned (e.g., by removing a handle layer of the SOIwafer of the engineered substrate) may be removed, for example, by acombination of grinding followed by etching. As a result, in someembodiments, the engineered substrate may include only two siliconlayers between which are the cavities. Having only two silicon layersmay, among other benefits, facilitate achieving thin dimensions for theengineered substrate. For example, the engineered substrate at thisstage may be relatively thin, for example being less than 100 μm intotal thickness, less than 50 μm in total thickness, less than 30 μm intotal thickness, less than 20 μm in total thickness, less than 10 μm intotal thickness (e.g., approximately 8 μm or approximately 5 μm), or anyother suitable thickness. Structures with such small thicknesses lacksufficient structural rigidity to survive many fabrication processes,including wafer bonding. Thus, according to some embodiments of thepresent application, the engineered substrate is not reduced to suchdimensions until after bonding with the CMOS wafer, which can providemechanical support to the engineered substrate. Moreover, in someembodiments it is preferable for one of the two wafers of the engineeredsubstrate to be sufficiently thick to minimize or prevent vibration ofthat wafer at the operating frequencies. The vibrating membrane of theengineered substrate may have a thickness of at least, for example, 4 μmin some embodiments, at least 5 μm in some embodiments, at least 7 μm insome embodiments, at least 10 μm in some embodiments, or other suitablethickness.

As further illustrated at operation 106, the second substrate of theengineered substrate may be electrically connected to the firstsubstrate of the engineered substrate, and electrical connections may bemade between the ICs on the CMOS wafer (or more generally the electricalsubstrate) and the sealed cavities of the engineered substrate toprovide functioning ultrasonic transducers. For example, the silicondevice layer of the engineered substrate proximate the CMOS wafer mayserve as a bottom electrode for the ultrasonic transducers while thesilicon device layer distal the CMOS wafer may serve as a membrane, andelectrical connections may be made to these structures as appropriate tocontrol operation of the membrane (e.g., to actuate (or induce vibrationof) the membrane by applying a voltage). In some embodiments, electricalconnection may be made (or may be at least partially completed) betweenthe engineered substrate and the CMOS wafer using conductive bondingmaterials (e.g., metals, highly doped silicon or polysilicon) whichserve as both bonding materials and electrical connections.Alternatively, or additionally, electrical connections may be madesubsequent to bonding of the engineered substrate with the CMOS wafer.For example, bonding the engineered substrate with the CMOS wafer mayform electrical connections to a bottom electrode of the ultrasonictransducer, and on-chip metal electrical and/or wire bonds may be formedsubsequently to provide electrical connection to top electrodes ormembrane of the ultrasonic transducer.

FIG. 2 illustrates further detail with respect to one example of theimplementation of operation 102 of method 100, for fabricating anengineered substrate having trench isolation inside an individual cellcavity, according to a non-limiting embodiment of the presentapplication.

In operation 202, cavities may be formed in a first side of a firstsubstrate. Here, this may be accomplished by etching a bulk siliconwafer, following by forming a quality oxide layer (e.g., thermal oxide)over the bulk silicon wafer and cavities. It should be appreciated thata thermal oxide represents a non-limiting example of an oxide, and thatother types of oxides may alternatively be formed. Furthermore, a“quality oxide” as described herein may have one or more of thefollowing characteristics: a pure stoichiometric SiO₂; no residualchemistry (e.g., traces of reactants from PECVD); mechanically stableand dense (e.g., no further densification resulting from subsequent hightemperature processes); any metallic contaminants near or belowdetection limits (e.g., 10¹⁰-10¹⁵ atoms/cm², depending upon technique);mobile ion contaminants (e.g., Na, Li, Ca, K) near or below detectionlimits (e.g., about 10¹⁰ atoms/cm²); minimal to no dopant incorporation(e.g., from substrate autodoping); dopant incorporation well below 10¹⁵atoms/cm²; no trapped states or trapped charge; a high quality Si—SiO₂interface (e.g., no trapped charge or interface states); no surfacecontamination (organic or other); low particle counts; uniform thicknessand refractive index.

Then, at operation 204, additional processing is performed to defineintracavity isolation trenches. That is, within the footprint of anindividual cavity, one or more isolation trenches may be further definedby etching narrow trenches deeper into a first side of the firstsubstrate (i.e., the same side of the first substrate that the cavitiesare formed). As is further described in greater detail below, the narrowtrenches within the cavity footprint may be filled with an insulatingmaterial to electrically isolate portions of the bottom electrode of thetransducer cell.

At operation 206, the cavities may be sealed by bonding a secondsubstrate to the first substrate. This may be accomplished by, forexample, using a low temperature fusion bond. In some embodiments, thesecond substrate may include a quality oxide layer formed on the silicondevice layer of an SOI wafer, such that bonding the first and secondsubstrates together may involve making direct contact with oxide layersof the substrates, thus forming a SiO₂—SiO₂ bond.

As a result of bonding the two substrates together, the cavities in thefirst substrate may be sealed. For example, the cavities may be vacuumsealed in some embodiments, although in other embodiments a vacuum sealmay not be formed. An anneal may then be performed to facilitateformation of a strong bond between the two substrates. As describedpreviously, in some embodiments the anneal may be a high temperatureanneal, for example being performed between approximately 500° C. andapproximately 1,500° C. (e.g., 500° C., 750° C., 1,000° C., 1,250° C.),including any temperature or range of temperatures within that range(e.g., between approximately 500° C. and approximately 1,200° C.),although other temperatures may alternatively be used. In someembodiments, an anneal may be performed between approximately 300° C.and approximately 1,200° C.

Then, at operation 208, the bulk substrate is thinned in order to exposethe isolation trenches and complete isolation between inner and outerregions of the cavity. Subsequently, intercavity isolation trenches maybe formed in a second side of the first substrate, as illustrated inoperation 210.

FIGS. 3A-3S illustrate a fabrication sequence for forming the engineeredsubstrate of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, according to a non-limiting embodimentof the present application. At the outset, it should be appreciated thatthe exemplary fabrication sequences depicted herein are for illustrativepurposes only, and thus the individual features are not necessarilyshown to scale, whether in height, width, length, aspect ratio, area orthe like.

As shown in FIG. 3A, a first substrate 300 is illustrated. The firstsubstrate 300 may be selected from a suitable semiconductor wafermaterial, such as single crystal silicon for example, and may be dopedin some embodiments to provide desired electrical behavior. Alternativematerials include, but are not limited to, polysilicon, amorphoussilicon or epitaxial silicon, whether doped or undoped. A doped firstsubstrate 300 may serve as a bottom electrode of an ultrasonictransducer, and in this instance suitable doping may provide desiredelectrical behavior. In addition, using a doped silicon device layeravoids the need for using TSVs in some embodiments.

In one specific example, the first substrate 300 may be highly a dopedp-type substrate having a suitable dopant concentration (e.g., boron) toprovide exemplary resistivity ranges of about 10 mΩ·cm-10 Ω·cm, about 10mΩ·cm-20 mΩ·cm, about 20 mΩ·cm-1 Ω·cm, about 1 Ω·cm-10 Ω·cm, and rangesin between. Alternatively, n-type doping may be used. When doping isused, the doping may be uniform or may be patterned (e.g., by implantingin patterned regions), for example to provide isolated electrodes asdescribed in further detail hereinafter. The first substrate 300 mayalready be doped upon procurement thereof, or may be doped by ionimplantation, as the manner of doping is not limiting in this respect.

As shown in FIG. 3B, a resist layer 602 is used as mask to patterncavities 304 (i.e., openings that will ultimately define the ultrasoniccavities once sealed) in the first substrate 300. Any suitable numberand configuration of cavities 304 may be formed, as the aspects of theapplication are not limited in this respect. Thus, while only fourcavities 304 are illustrated in the non-limiting cross-sectional view ofFIG. 3B, it should be appreciated that many more may be formed in someembodiments. For example, an array of cavities 304 may include hundredsof cavities, thousands of cavities, tens of thousands of cavities ormore to form an ultrasonic transducer array of a desired size. As alsodepicted in FIG. 3B, one or more alignment marks 306 may be formed inthe resist layer 602 and first substrate 600.

In one embodiment, the cavities 604 may be patterned using a dry siliconetch in which a target etch depth takes into consideration a desiredcavity depth plus the thickness of a subsequently formed insulationlayer. Thus, by way of example, the cavities 304 may be etched to adepth, d, of about 5000 angstroms (Å) (i.e., 0.5 μm), although it willbe appreciated that other depths and ranges of depths may be used. Inparticular, the cavity depth, d, may be selected for desired operationof the ultrasonic transducers ultimately formed (for example) in termsof frequency of operation and/or desired bias voltage. Thus, in someembodiments, d may be approximately 2 μm, approximately 0.5 μm asindicated above, approximately 0.25 μm, between approximately 0.05 μmand approximately 10 μm, between approximately 0.1 μm and approximately5 μm, between approximately 0.5 μm and approximately 1.5 μm, any depthor range of depths in between, or any other suitable depth.

In addition, the cavities may have a width dimension, w, (e.g., adiameter) of about 200 μm, although other dimensions and ranges ofdimensions may be used (e.g., about 50-250 μm). Non-limiting examples ofvalues for w are described further below. The width dimension w may alsobe used to identify the aperture size of the cavity, and thus thecavities 304 may have apertures of any of the values described hereinfor w. Further, the cavities 304 may take one of various shapes (asviewed from a top side) to provide a desired membrane shape when theultrasonic transducers are ultimately formed. For example, the cavities304 may have a circular contour or a multi-sided contour (e.g., arectangular contour, a hexagonal contour, an octagonal contour). It willalso be appreciated at this point that the specific features of theseveral Figures herein are not necessarily depicted to scale, but ratherare presented for illustrative purposes.

Referring now to FIG. 3C, the resist layer 302 is removed in preparationfor insulating layer formation. At this point, one or more etchparameter measurements may be performed (e.g., cavity etch depth), forexample to assist in determining a statistical measure(s) of processingcapability (e.g., C_(pk)). As then shown in FIG. 3D, an insulating layer308 is formed on outer surfaces of the first substrate 300. Theinsulating layer 308 may be, for example, a quality oxide of siliconsuch as SiO₂, formed by a thermal oxidation process. Other types ofoxide layers and insulating layers in general are also contemplated,however. One exemplary thickness for the insulating layer 308 may beabout 2500 Å, however other thickness and thickness ranges are alsocontemplated (e.g., about 500-5000 Å). The insulating layer 308 maycover both sides of the first substrate 300, and may be formed so as tomaintain visibility of the alignment mark 306. This in turn may allowthe alignment mark 306 to be transferred from the trench side of thefirst substrate 300 (e.g., the front side) to the opposite side (e.g.,the back side), as shown in FIG. 3E.

In FIG. 3F, a sacrificial hardmask layer 310 is formed over thestructure of FIG. 3E. The hardmask layer 310 may be selected from amaterial such as silicon nitride for example, and have an etchselectivity with respect to oxide material. The sacrificial hardmasklayer 310 is then optionally followed by the formation of another resistlayer 312, as shown in FIG. 3G.

Referring to FIG. 3H, portions of the cavities 304 are etched throughthe optional resist layer 312, the sacrificial hardmask layer 310, oxidelayer 308 and into the first substrate 300. As described in furtherdetail herein, this etch creates trenches 314 beneath the cavities thatultimately define an intracavity isolation region to electricallyseparate regions of a bottom electrode of an individual transducercavity. In an exemplary embodiment, an trench 314 in a given cavity 304may (when taken from a top view) form a closed contour, such as acircle, oval, square, polygon, etc. The trenches 314 may have anexemplary depth of about 40 μm and an exemplary width of about 1.5 μm,although other dimensions and ranges of dimensions are contemplated solong as the desired intracavity isolation functionality is provided.More specifically, the trench width is adequate to provide electricalisolation, and the width and fill of the isolation trenches may bedesigned to also allow different voltages to be applied to the differentregions separated by these trenches.

FIG. 3I illustrates removal of the resist layer 312 and optionalcleaning operation, such as with an SC1 or SC2 clean, an HF dip, apolymer removal, or other suitable cleaning and surface treatmentoperations, followed by an oxidation fill of the trenches 314 as shownin FIG. 3J. The oxidation fill may, for example, be a thermal oxidationthat refills the trenches 314 with about 7500 Å of oxide 316. In analternative embodiment, the oxide 316 may be replaced with undopedpolysilicon, a combination of oxide and undoped polysilicon, or otherinsulating material(s). Notably, the sacrificial hardmask layer 310 mayserve to maintain the thickness of the oxide layer 308 on top of thecavities 304 by blocking further oxidation during trench oxidation.There may be some LOCOS growth which may in turn form a slight “bird'sbeak,” or oxide protrusion in the regions immediately adjacent to theopenings in the nitride hardmask. This may serve as an advantage inoperation of the CMUT by providing regions of maximized receivesensitivity with minimal surface area of membrane touchdown. Then, asshown in FIG. 3K, the sacrificial hardmask layer 310 is removed, such asby a wet etch process with high selectivity to oxide that preserves thethermal oxide surface of oxide layer 308 for subsequent bonding. Otherremoval processes may also be used however.

Proceeding to FIG. 3L, a second substrate 320 is illustrated injuxtaposition with the first substrate 300. The second substrate 320 maybe selected from a suitable semiconductor wafer material, such assilicon-on-insulator (SOI) for example, and may be doped in someembodiments to provide desired electrical behavior. A doped secondsubstrate 320 may include a bulk layer 322, a buried insulator (e.g.,oxide) layer 324 (also referred to as a “BOX” layer), and asilicon-on-insulator (SOI) device layer 326 (e.g., silicon) that mayserve as a top membrane of an ultrasonic transducer. In one specificexample, the SOI silicon device layer 326 of the second substrate 320may be highly a doped p-type substrate having a suitable dopantconcentration (e.g., boron) to provide a resistivity with ranges ofabout 10 mΩ·cm-10 Ω·cm, about 10 mΩ·cm-20 mΩ·cm, about 20 mΩ·cm-1 Ω·cm,about 1 Ω·cm-10 Ω·cm, and ranges in between. Alternatively, n-typedoping may be used. When doping is used, the doping may be uniform ormay be patterned (e.g., by implanting in patterned regions. The secondsubstrate 320 may already be doped upon procurement thereof, or may bedoped by ion implantation, as the manner of doping is not limiting inthis respect. In addition, outer surfaces of the second substrate 320may oxidized with a quality oxide layer 328 for bonding with the firstsubstrate 300, wherein a thickness of the oxide layer 328 may bedetermined by a desired gap between the top SOI device silicon layer 326and the bottom of the cavities 304. Oxide layer 328 may be a thermalsilicon oxide, but it should be appreciated that oxides or insulatingmaterials other than thermal oxide may alternatively be used.

As shown in FIG. 3M, the first substrate 600 may be bonded with thesecond substrate 320 to define an engineered substrate 350. The bondingmay be a fusion bonding performed at a low temperature (e.g., a fusionbond below 450° C.), but may also be followed by an anneal at a hightemperature (e.g., at greater than 500° C., such as about 1000° C.) toensure sufficient bond strength. In those embodiments in which the firstand/or second substrates 300 and 320 are doped, the anneal may alsoserve to diffuse and/or activate the doping, meaning that a singleanneal may perform multiple functions. In the illustrated embodiment,the bond may be an SiO₂—SiO₂ bond, although alternatives are possible.For example, in some embodiments the SOI silicon device layer 326 of thesecond substrate 320 may lack an oxide layer 328, such that the bondbetween the first and second substrates 300 and 320 may be a Si—SiO₂bond.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3N, the oxide layer 308 and a portion of thesubstrate 300 may be removed, in any suitable manner. For example,grinding, etching, polishing or any other suitable technique orcombination of techniques may be used. As a result, a thickness of thesubstrate 300 is removed so as to expose the oxide 316 material of theintracavity isolation trenches, leaving a remaining thickness (e.g.,less than about 10 μm, about 10 μm-40 μm, 10 μm-30 μm, 30 μm-40 μm,greater than about 40 μm). It should be noted that the depth of theetched and filled trenches may be varied in anticipation of the desiredfinal thickness of layer 300. For example, if substrate 300 is to bethinned to 30 μm, the trenches 314 may be etched to 40 μm deep to assurefull exposure of all trenches and full isolation after thinningsubstrate 300. FIG. 3O illustrates the formation of another oxide layer352 on the thinned substrate. The oxide layer 352 may be formed by anysuitable method such as, for example, thermal oxidation or by plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) (e.g., at a thickness rangeof less than about 1000 angstroms (Å), from about 1000 Å-1 μm, fromabout 1000 Å-1500 Å, from about 1500 Å-5000 Å, from about 5000 Å-1 μm,and greater than about 1-3 μm). Optionally, the alignment mark 330 maybe transferred to the oxide layer 352 as alignment mark 354 if desired.

Referring to FIG. 3P, a resist layer 356 may be formed over the oxidelayer 352 in order to pattern and define trench openings 358 insubstrate 300 that define isolation regions between individualtransducer cells and/or elements (i.e., intercavity isolation).Thereafter, the resist layer 356 may be removed, followed by filling theopenings with an insulating material 360, such as oxide or an oxideliner with undoped polysilicon fill, for example. In one embodiment, theoxide fill may continue to form an increased amount of oxide on layer352, as shown in FIG. 3Q. Alternatively, the insulating material 360 mayinclude undoped polysilicon, a combination of oxide and undopedpolysilicon, or other insulating material(s). In any case, it will beappreciated that the configuration of the intracavity oxide material 616and the intercavity oxide material 660 defines electrically isolated andseparately electrically addressable regions of a transducer cell. Thatis, a given cell may have a first bottom electrode portion and a secondbottom electrode portion that are electrically isolated from oneanother, as well as from other transducer cells. Hereinafter, such afirst bottom electrode portion and a second bottom electrode portionthat are electrically isolated from one another (and thereforeseparately electrically addressable from one another) are also referredto as an inner electrode 361 a and an outer electrode 361 b,respectively. One exemplary application of an inner electrode 361 a anda separately electrically addressable outer electrode 361 b is to haveone perform a transmit function of an ultrasound device and the other toperform a receive function of the ultrasound device, thus eliminatingthe need for a transmit/receive switch in the ultrasound circuitry.

FIG. 3R illustrates the formation of contact openings 362 in layer 352,such as by forming and patterning a resist layer (not shown), inpreparation for forming bonding locations for later bonding of theengineered substrate with a CMOS wafer. In addition, a clear out region363 may be formed through layer 332, substrate 300, oxide layers 308 and328, and SOI silicon device layer 326. The clear out region 363 mayisolate groups of ultrasonic transducers from each other (e.g.,separating distinct ultrasonic transducer arrays). For example, in someembodiments the substrate 300 and SOI silicon device layer 326 areretained only in a region corresponding to an ultrasonic transducerarray, with the clear out region 363 separating ultrasonic transducerarrays. The clear out region 363 may provide easier access to the CMOSwafer at a periphery of the ultrasonic transducer array, for exampleallowing for access to bond pads or other electrical connectionfeatures, as well as access to scribe lines for alignment duringprocessing or for testing or dicing of completed wafers. The clear outregion 363 may be formed in any suitable manner, for example using oneor more of grinding, deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) and plasma etchesfor etching the silicon device layers and oxide layers. In someembodiments, grinding followed by DRIE is used. Alternative manners offorming the clear out region 363 are possible. As mentioned above,features such as the clear out region are not necessarily depicted toscale and are for illustrative purposes only. For example, in the caseof the clear out region 363, the aspect ratio may be different than thatactually depicted in the figures (e.g., the width dimension may begreater that the depth dimension). It may also be possible to form theclear out region 363 by partial dicing at the end of the line (i.e.,cutting through the engineered substrate without cutting into the CMOSwafer, after bonding).

Bonding material 364 may then be formed on the engineered substrate 350in preparation for bonding the engineered substrate with an electricalsubstrate such as a CMOS wafer, as shown in FIG. 3S. The type of bondingmaterial 364 may depend on the type of bond to be formed. For example,the bonding material 364 may be a metal suitable for thermocompressionbonding, eutectic bonding, or silicide bonding. In some embodiments, thebonding material may be conductive so that electrical signals may becommunicated between the engineered substrate and an electricalsubstrate such as a CMOS wafer. For example, in some embodiments thebonding material 364 may be gold and may be formed by electroplating. Inaddition, appropriate seed layer metals may be used to prevent unwantedinterdiffusion of materials. In some embodiments, materials andtechniques used for wafer level packaging may be applied in the contextof bonding the engineered substrate with a CMOS wafer. Thus, forexample, stacks of metals selected to provide desirable adhesion,interdiffusion barrier functionality, and high bonding quality may beused, and the bonding material 364 may include such stacks of metals. Inone specific example, a seed metal (e.g., one or layers of titaniumtungsten (TiW) be deposited over the layer 352 and into the openings362, followed by metal plating (e.g. Au) and etching of the seed andplated layers to form metal electrode contacts. In addition to TiW/Au,other metallizations may include, but are not limited to, Ti, Ti/TiW/Au,TiW/Ni/Au, TiW/Pd/Au, and TiW/Cu/Ni/Au with Ti or TiW forming the mainadhesion layer, TiW, Ni, Pt, Pd, TiN or TaN (optional) functioning as abarrier layer and Au or Cu as the main conductor.

With respect to individual cells or elements, an inner electrode contact364 a may correspond to inner electrode 361 a, while an outer electrodecontact 364 b may correspond to an outer electrode 364 b. At this pointin the processing, the engineered substrate 350 may be considered to bein condition for bonding to an electrical substrate such as a CMOS waferto form a monolithically integrated ultrasound-on-a-chip device.

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate a fabrication sequence for preparing anelectrical substrate such as CMOS wafer for bonding with the engineeringsubstrate, according to a non-limiting embodiment of the presentapplication. As shown in FIG. 4A, the CMOS wafer 400 includes a baselayer (e.g., a bulk silicon wafer) 402, an insulating layer 404, andmetallization 406. An insulating layer 408 may optionally be formed onthe backside of the base layer 402. As shown in FIG. 4B, layers 410 and412 may be formed on the CMOS wafer 400. The layer 410 may be, forexample, a nitride layer and may be formed by plasma enhanced chemicalvapor deposition (PECVD). The layer 412 may be an oxide layer, forexample formed by PECVD of oxide.

In FIG. 4C, openings 414 may be formed through layers 412, 410 to themetallization 406. Such openings may be made in preparation for formingbonding points. For example, in FIG. 4D, bonding material 416 may beformed on the CMOS wafer 400 (by suitable deposition and patterning) atone or more suitable locations for bonding the engineered substrate 350with the CMOS wafer 400. The bonding material 416 may be any suitablematerial for bonding with the bonding material 364 on the engineeredsubstrate. As previously described, in some embodiments a lowtemperature eutectic bond may be formed, and in such embodiments thebonding material 416 and bonding material 364 may form a eutectic pair.For example, bonding material 364 and bonding material 416 may form anindium-tin (In—Sn) eutectic pair, a gold-tin (Au—Sn) eutectic pair, andaluminum-germanium (Al—Ge) eutectic pair, or a tin-silver-copper(Sn—Ag—Cu) combination. In the case of Sn—Ag—Cu, two of the materialsmay be formed on the engineered substrate 350 as bonding material 364with the remaining material formed as bonding material 416.

FIGS. 5A-5D illustrate a fabrication sequence for integrating theengineered substrate with the electrical substrate (CMOS wafer 400), andencompasses the method of FIG. 1, according to a non-limiting embodimentof the present application. As shown in FIG. 5A, the engineeredsubstrate 350 and CMOS wafer 400 may be bonded together, which in someembodiments results in a monolithically integrated structure 500including sealed cavities 304 disposed vertically above ICs in the CMOSwafer 400 (e.g., metallization 406). As previously described, suchbonding may, in some embodiments, involve only the use of lowtemperature (e.g., below 450° C.) which may prevent damage tometallization layers and other components on the CMOS wafer 400.

In the non-limiting example illustrated, the bond may be a eutecticbond, such that the bonding material 364 and bonding material 416 may incombination form bond points 502 a and 502 b. As a further non-limitingexample, a thermocompression bond may be formed using gold (Au) or othersuitable metal as the bonding material. For instance (and as indicatedpreviously), the bonding material 364 may include a seed layer (formedby sputtering or otherwise) of Ti/TiW/Au with plated Au formed thereon,and the bonding material 416 may include a seed layer (formed bysputtering or otherwise) of TiW/Au with plated Ni/Au formed thereon. Thelayers of titanium may serve as adhesion layers, while the TiW layersmay serve as adhesion layers and diffusion barriers. The nickel mayserve as a diffusion barrier, while the Au may form the bond. Otherbonding materials may alternatively be used.

Next, the bulk layer 322 and oxide layer 328 may be removed in anysuitable manner as shown in FIG. 5B. For example, grinding and/oretching may be used. The oxide layer 324 may act as an etch stop forremoving the bulk layer 322. As shown in FIG. 5C, an additional oxidepassivation layer 504 may be formed over the integrated structure 500,which may also form a seal between the engineered substrate 350 and CMOSwafer 400, surrounding the transducer region. Then, as shown in FIG. 5D,additional processing to produce an ultrasound device may includeforming first metallic contact(s) 506 and second metallic contact(s) 508(e.g., aluminum, copper, or other suitable conductive material), wheresecond metallic contact(s) 508 provides a conductive path between theCMOS wafer 400 and the SOI silicon device layer 326 of the engineeredsubstrate 350. As is further illustrated in FIG. 5D, one or morepassivation layers (oxide 510, nitride 512 and/or oxide plus nitride)may be also formed over the integrated structure 500.

Various features of the above described fabrication sequences are nownoted. For example, it should be appreciated that the fabricationsequences do not involve the use of TSVs, thus making the process lesscostly and complex than if TSVs were used. The yield of the process maybe increased as a result. Moreover, the design rules are lessrestrictive than would be the case with TSVs. For example, dense, smallfeatures may be created whereas TSVs are limited by the aspect ratio,mechanical integrity and processing. That is, TSVs are larger, fewer innumber and less dense. In contrast, the present embodiments allow forthe fabrication of tens of thousands (or more) of connections per die,which is not possible with TSVs.

Additionally, the process (or processes) does not utilize chemicalmechanical polishing (CMP) to form cavities. Similarly, it is noteworthythat the illustrated fabrication sequences do not require anydensification anneals (e.g., of PECVD films) for the low temperaturebond of the engineered substrate with the CMOS wafer. The use of suchanneals may reduce bonding reliability and therefore yield.Densification also introduces variability in dimensional control of thegap and cavity depth, which affect CMUT device performance. Furtherstill, and as previously described, the fabrication of the sealedcavities for the ultrasonic transducers is decoupled from the CMOSthermal budget, thus allowing for use of high temperature processing(e.g., a high temperature anneal) when bonding together the wafers ofthe engineered substrate.

The process for forming the sealed cavities 304 may also facilitateforming cavities of desired dimensions and spacing. For example, thecavities 304 may have widths w (e.g., see FIGS. 3B and 3C) ofapproximately 50 μm, between approximately 5 μm and approximately 500μm, between approximately 20 μm and approximately 200 μm, any width orrange of widths in between, or any other suitable widths. In someembodiments, the width w may be selected to maximize the void fraction,being the amount of area consumed by the cavities compared to the amountof area consumed by surrounding structures. The cavities 306 may havedepths d (see FIGS. 3B and 3C) of approximately 2 μm, approximately 0.5μm, approximately 0.25 μm, between approximately 0.05 μm andapproximately 10 μm, between approximately 0.1 μm and approximately 5μm, between approximately 0.5 μm and approximately 1.5 μm, any depth orrange of depths in between, or any other suitable depths. In someembodiments, the cavities have widths w of approximately 50 μm anddepths d of approximately 0.2 μm. In some embodiments, a ratio of thewidth w to the depth d may be greater than 50, greater than 100, greaterthan 150, between 30 and 300, or any other suitable ratio. The ratio maybe selected to provide desired operation of the transducer membrane, forexample operation at a target frequency.

The spacing between cavities 304 may also be made small despite the factthat the amount of space between cavities 304 impacts the bondable areawhen forming the engineered substrate. That is, the smaller thedistances are between the cavities 304 the less bonding surface isavailable which increases the difficulty of bonding. However, theprocesses of forming the engineered substrate described herein,including cavity formation in an oxide layer, low temperature fusionbond, and high temperature anneal, make it practical to closely spacethe cavities 304 while still achieving high bond quality and yield ofthe engineered substrate. In general, because formation of theengineered substrate is not limited by a thermal budget using thetechniques described herein, flexibility is provided in using designrules to minimize the bondable area between cavities 304. For example,spacing between cavities of less than 5 μm, less than 3 μm, or less than2 μm, among other possibilities, may be achieved using the processesdescribed herein.

It also should be appreciated that the fabrication steps presentedherein are not necessarily limited to the order illustrated in thefigures, as any other suitable fabrication order may be used.Furthermore, in some embodiments, not all process steps are necessaryand one or more process steps may be omitted.

The aspects of the present application may provide one or more benefits,some of which have been previously described. Now described are somenon-limiting examples of such benefits. It should be appreciated thatnot all aspects and embodiments necessarily provide all of the benefitsnow described. Further, it should be appreciated that aspects of thepresent application may provide additional benefits to those nowdescribed.

Aspects of the present application provide manufacturing processessuitable for formation of monolithically integrated ultrasonictransducers and CMOS structures (e.g., CMOS ICs). Thus, single substratedevices operating as ultrasound devices (e.g., for ultrasound imagingand/or high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU)) are achieved.

In at least some embodiments, the processes may be reliable (e.g.,characterized by high yield and/or high device reliability), scalable tolarge quantities, and relatively inexpensive to perform, thuscontributing to a commercially practical fabrication process for CUTs.The processes may also be repeatable, with tight dimensional tolerancesfrom one transducer element to the next, for all transducers in anarray, for all die on a wafer, for all wafers in a lot, and for allwafers and lots run throughout time. Further, the use of complex andcostly processing techniques such as the formation of TSVs, the use ofprecision CMP, the use of densification anneals of low temperatureoxide, and bonding of low temperature oxides may be avoided. Moreover,the processes may provide for the fabrication of small ultrasounddevices, facilitating the creation of portable ultrasound probes.

In some aspects, the fabrication processes allow for bonding of anengineered substrate with a circuit wafer in a wafer-scale packagingfacility, which offer reduced cost compared to performing the bonding ina microfabrication facility. Also, the use of redistribution and fan outor fan in technology may be accommodated, allowing for bonding ofcircuit wafers with engineered substrates even when the two havediffering dimensions, or when dies from the two have differingdimensions. The use of RDL and fan out and/or fan in may also allow fordesign variation in the engineered substrate without requiring redesignof the circuit wafer or interface layers between the two. Multipletransducer die may be integrated onto one CMOS die or tiled in anycombination.

Having thus described several aspects and embodiments of the technologyof this application, it is to be appreciated that various alterations,modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those of ordinaryskill in the art. Such alterations, modifications, and improvements areintended to be within the spirit and scope of the technology describedin the application. For example, those of ordinary skill in the art willreadily envision a variety of other means and/or structures forperforming the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or moreof the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/ormodifications is deemed to be within the scope of the embodimentsdescribed herein. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able toascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalentsto the specific embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to beunderstood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way ofexample only and that, within the scope of the appended claims andequivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwisethan as specifically described. In addition, any combination of two ormore features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methodsdescribed herein, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits,and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within thescope of the present disclosure.

As a non-limiting example, various embodiments have been described asincluding CMUTs. In alternative embodiments, PMUTs may be used insteadof, or in addition to, CMUTs.

Also, as described, some aspects may be embodied as one or more methods.The acts performed as part of the method may be ordered in any suitableway. Accordingly, embodiments may be constructed in which acts areperformed in an order different than illustrated, which may includeperforming some acts simultaneously, even though shown as sequentialacts in illustrative embodiments.

All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood tocontrol over dictionary definitions, definitions in documentsincorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the definedterms.

The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in thespecification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to thecontrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”

The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in theclaims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements soconjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some casesand disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with“and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” ofthe elements so conjoined. Elements other than those specificallyidentified by the “and/or” clause may optionally be present, whetherrelated or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, asa non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when used inconjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer, inone embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other than B);in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elements otherthan A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionallyincluding other elements); etc.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “atleast one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should beunderstood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more ofthe elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including atleast one of each and every element specifically listed within the listof elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the listof elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally bepresent other than the elements specifically identified within the listof elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether relatedor unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as anon-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “atleast one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) canrefer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including morethan one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements otherthan B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally includingmore than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elementsother than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionallyincluding more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including morethan one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.

Also, the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose ofdescription and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of“including,” “comprising,” or “having,” “containing,” “involving,” andvariations thereof herein, is meant to encompass the items listedthereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items.

In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitionalphrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,”“containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are tobe understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limitedto. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consistingessentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases,respectively.

1. (canceled)
 2. An apparatus, comprising: an ultrasonic transducer cellcomprising: a membrane; a bottom electrode comprising: a first bottomelectrode portion; a second bottom electrode portion; and one or moretrench isolation regions disposed within the bottom electrode andconfigured to electrically isolate the first and second bottom electrodeportions of the bottom electrode from one another; and a cavity disposedbetween the membrane and the bottom electrode.
 3. The apparatus of claim2, wherein the first and second bottom electrode portions are separatelyelectrically addressable from one another.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2,wherein the first bottom electrode portion comprises an inner bottomelectrode with respect to a diameter of the ultrasonic transducer cell,and the second bottom electrode portion comprises an outer bottomelectrode with respect to the diameter of the ultrasonic transducercell.
 5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein: one of the first bottomelectrode portion and the second bottom electrode portion is configuredto perform a transmit function of the apparatus; and the other of thefirst bottom electrode portion and the second bottom electrode portionis configured to perform a receive function of the apparatus.
 6. Theapparatus of claim 5, wherein the apparatus is configured to perform thetransmit and receive functions simultaneously.
 7. The apparatus of claim2, further comprising a CMOS substrate electrically coupled to theultrasonic transducer cell, wherein: the CMOS substrate comprisesmetallization; and the first and second bottom electrode portions aredisposed between the metallization and the cavity.
 8. The apparatus ofclaim 2, wherein the first and second bottom electrode portions arehorizontally adjacent.
 9. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the one ormore trench isolation regions are disposed within a footprint of thecavity.
 10. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a CMOSsubstrate electrically coupled to the ultrasonic transducer cell,wherein: multiple electrical contacts electrically couple the bottomelectrode to the CMOS substrate.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein:the multiple electrical contacts comprise a first electrical contact anda second electrical contact; the first electrical contact iselectrically coupled to the first bottom electrode portion; and thesecond electrical contact is electrically coupled to the second bottomelectrode portion.
 12. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the one or moretrench isolation regions protrude into the cavity.
 13. A method,comprising: forming a cavity in a first side of a first substrate;defining a first bottom electrode portion and a second bottom electrodeportion in the first substrate underneath the cavity by forming at leastone isolation trench in the first side of the first substrate; sealingthe cavity by bonding a second substrate to the first substrate; andforming a membrane from the second substrate, wherein the membrane,first and second bottom electrode portions, and cavity define at leastpart of an ultrasonic transducer cell for which the cavity is disposedbetween the membrane and the first and second bottom electrode portions.14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first substrate comprises asilicon material, and wherein forming the at least one isolation trenchin the first side of the first substrate comprises: forming aninsulating layer over the first side of the first substrate, includingthe cavity; etching though the insulating layer and into the siliconmaterial to define the at least one isolation trench; and filling the atleast one isolation trench with one or more insulating materials. 15.The method of claim 14, wherein the insulating layer and the one or moreinsulating materials comprise oxide.
 16. The method of claim 14, whereinfilling the at least one isolation trench with one or more insulatingmaterials comprises filling the at least one isolation trench with oneor more insulating materials comprising thermal oxide and undopedpolysilicon.
 17. The method of claim 13, wherein defining a first bottomelectrode portion and a second bottom electrode portion in the firstsubstrate underneath the cavity by forming at least one isolation trenchin the first side of the first substrate comprises disposing the atleast one isolation trench within a footprint of the cavity.
 18. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising electrically isolating the firstand second bottom electrode portions from each other.
 19. The method ofclaim 18, wherein electrically isolating the first and second bottomelectrode portions from each other comprises filling the at least oneisolation trench with an insulating material.
 20. The method of claim18, wherein electrically isolating the first and second bottom electrodeportions from each other comprises reducing a thickness of the firstsubstrate.
 21. The method of claim 13, wherein defining a first bottomelectrode portion and a second bottom electrode portion in the firstsubstrate underneath the cavity by forming at least one isolation trenchin the first side of the first substrate comprises electricallyisolating the first bottom electrode portion and second bottom electrodeportion from each other.
 22. The method of claim 13, wherein defining afirst bottom electrode portion and a second bottom electrode portioncomprises defining the first bottom electrode portion as an inner bottomelectrode with respect to a diameter of the ultrasonic transducer cell,and the second bottom electrode portion as an outer bottom electrodewith respect to the diameter of the ultrasonic transducer cell.
 23. Themethod of claim 13, wherein defining a first bottom electrode portionand a second bottom electrode portion in the first substrate underneaththe cavity comprises defining the first and second bottom electrodeportions as horizontally adjacent to each other.
 24. The method of claim13, wherein defining a first bottom electrode portion and a secondbottom electrode portion in the first substrate underneath the cavity byforming at least one isolation trench comprises forming the at least oneisolation trench to protrude into the cavity.